


Know Thyself

by masquev2



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: AvaLance, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-05-02 06:01:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14538219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/masquev2/pseuds/masquev2
Summary: Discovering that she was a clone tore her apart. Now she is looking for answers about herself and her past in the hopes that she can put the pieces back together again.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story begins a few days after the Legends have defeated Mallus, and after Amaya and Wally have both left the Waverider.
> 
> The idea that the Ava who assists the Legends in the final battle is from the future comes from my story 'Don't Give Up On Me'.
> 
> Find me on Tumblr, @masquev2

_**“Know thyself and thou shall know  
the mysteries of the gods and the universe.”** _

Sara Lance couldn’t sleep; the bed was suddenly too big to be alone in, the sheets too cool without someone else’s body heat joining hers. Feeling foolish she reached across the empty side of the bed and slipped her hand beneath the pillow until her fingertips encountered a familiar piece of paper. She curled her fingers around the heavy textured scrap, drawing comfort from its mere presence. She didn’t need to read it, she knew exactly what it said, every word was forever ingrained in her memory, every stroke of the pen against the paper remembered like a stroke of the hand that wrote it against her skin, the sentiment was now a part of her very soul: _‘This spot reserved for the girlfriend of Sara Lance’_.

The truth of the note spoke of more than Ava’s place in her bed; it was also about the woman’s place in her life, in her thoughts and in her heart. And Sara had screwed it all up. She was alone in her bed and she only had herself to blame for it.

In the wake of her encounter with the Death Totem Sara had felt such fear that her exposure to the darkness she had once called home would lay claim to her again. Ava had been the one to bring her back; her voice and her touch, her strength and her heart. She was willing to stay and see past the thing that had possessed Sara, to help her fight the darkness that was Sara’s constant companion. And Sara had sent her away, because the thought of what was inside her hurting Ava was more than she could bear. She broke Ava’s heart so that she could save her soul.

But then they had gone to 2213 and they had discovered the truth about Ava. A truth that Rip had gone to great lengths to conceal. Sara had witnessed Ava’s agony as her life had fallen apart before her eyes, lies that stripped her of a past that she thought was her own, falsehoods that made her question everything she knew about herself. Suddenly Sara’s problems seemed petty and insignificant by comparison. In trying to convince Ava that it didn’t matter where she came from, it mattered what she had become, that she was a truly wonderful and extraordinary woman, Sara had felt those truths and wanted to scream at herself for throwing away the best thing she had ever had.

Now Ava was the one struggling with the self-hatred and self-worth, doubting her every thought and action, no longer sure of what was her own and what had been given to her. Sara wanted to take all of that uncertainty away, to prove to Ava that she was exceptional and special and a hundred other things that Sara had fallen for. So she had kissed her, kissed her and told her that she loved her. All she had wanted to do was show the other woman that she was still there for her, that she had made the biggest mistake of her life in letting her go, that she wanted to try and make it all better. Sara was sure she had seen a hint of a smile on Ava’s lips before her features hardened, before her belief that she was nothing took hold and she withdraw from Sara’s touch and left the Waverider.

When Ava had showed up in Salvation, as the showdown with Mallus drew closer, Sara had been so thankful to see the other woman that it had taken her a little while to realise that something was different about her. The difference was two months; the Ava that had answered Sara’s message was from the future and had come to the Legends aid at the behest of her past self who did not have enough belief in herself to assist them in her current state.

The future version of her past lover seemed to be in a better place, or was at least working her way towards accepting herself and that each day it was getting a little easier. She hinted that having Sara by her side had helped, and that hint was all Sara needed to have faith that they would find their way back to one another, that they could find their happiness together.

When the sun had set on their first day in Aruba, while the team had continued to celebrate their victory over Mallus, Sara had returned to her casita alone. She had implied that she and Ava had plans, but it wasn’t the romantic rendezvous that Nate was probably thinking of or the sexathon that Mick was probably hoping it was. Using the communicator that Mick had stolen way back when they first crossed paths with the Time Bureau Sara recorded a simple video and sent it to Ava.

In this message she promised that she would be there for the other woman, but only when Ava was ready for her to be. She would give her all the time and space that she needed to process what she had found out, but if Ava needed any help then she only had to ask for it. She wasn’t sorry for kissing Ava or confessing her feelings, but she was sorry that it had caused the other woman more distress because it was the last thing she ever wanted to do. She had ended the recording and begun the hardest part, the wait; she had never been very good at it, but for Ava she would do anything.

Until then Sara would curl her fingers around the note in her hand, a place holder until Ava would take her rightful spot as the girlfriend of Sara Lance.

“Sorry to disturb you Captain Lance,” Gideon’s voice was a welcome interruption to Sara’s circling thoughts that were keeping her from sleep, “but you did say that if Director Sharpe was to call I should…”

“Put her through Gideon,” Sara eagerly cut off the announcement by the ships AI. She stumbled from her bed, blankets tangling in her legs and nearly tripping her as she made her way across her quarters to stand before her communications terminal. So desperate to speak with Ava for the first time in what felt like such a long time, but was actually only six days, Sara had completely forgotten that she was dressed in only a loose ‘Namaste’ tee-shirt that was hanging off of one shoulder and her camouflage boy shorts that had the words ‘booty camp’ written across the back.

Ava’s image appeared on the screen and Sara felt something inside her settle at the sight, but the pleasure turned quickly to concern when she saw how tired Ava looked, in fact she looked more than tired. Weary was the only word that could adequately describe the exhaustion and frustration and defeat that marred her features.

Ava took a moment to take in Sara’s appearance and attire, her eyes flicked to the bottom corner of her screen and her face fell, “Oh Sara, I’m sorry, I didn’t even think about the time. Go back to bed. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Ava wait,” Sara blurted reaching out towards her screen as though she could stop Ava from pressing the button that would terminate the transmission, “You called. I’m here.”

Tension seemed to drain from Ava’s body as she exhaled heavily, “Can we talk?”

“Yes,” Sara replied quickly, perhaps a little too keenly if the tiny twitch of Ava’s lips was any indication, “Do you want to come to the ship?”

“Would that be okay?” Ava asked as she rubbed the back of her neck, a move that Sara had learned was an attempt to hide how nervous she was.

“That would be very okay.” Sara glanced down at what she was wearing, certain that this was not the best outfit to be wearing while talking to your ex-girlfriend, who you wanted to be your girlfriend again but didn’t want to pressure her into anything before she was ready. “Give me ten minutes and I’ll meet you in the office.”

Ava offered a tentative smile, “See you in ten minutes.”

~

The soft leather of the armchair was welcoming to her exhausted body and soul; it had been a mistake to sit down but it seemed the natural thing to do after she had poured herself two fingers of scotch from the decanter. She hadn’t even taken a single sip, the warmth of the well-worn leather had invited her to close her eyes and rest her head.

A gentle hand shaking her shoulder startled her awake, her body jerking as her eyelids snapped open to find amused blue eyes looking down at her. Sara removed the tumbler from her slack grip before she managed to slosh the expensive contents over her suit pants. The alcohol was replaced with a mug that wafted a distinctive aroma.

“Hot chocolate?” She asked, even though it was obvious. She inhaled deeply and took a drink, letting the sweet taste soothe her.

“I thought you could use that more than this.” Sara placed the untouched scotch on the side table.

Ava watched as Sara moved away to lean against the edge of the central table. She retrieved a mug of her own, probably hot chocolate too.

They drank in silence. Ava noted that since their brief video conversation Sara had changed her outfit. She no longer wore the shorts and top that had made Ava want to crawl through the screen and drag Sara back to bed; she had pulled on a pair of pyjama pants and a soft grey hoodie that made Ava want to crawl across to her and snuggle. It was her tiredness talking, she had to shake those thoughts from her head; Sara had ended their relationship against all of Ava’s objections and more recently Ava had rejected Sara’s attempt at reconciliation. She no longer knew where they stood with one another, but amidst all the questions she had about herself at the moment this was the one thing she had the power to do something about and it was why she had come to the Waverider to speak with Sara.

“You broke up with me!” Well that had come out a little more abruptly than she had intended, without any of the preamble she had been preparing while she sat in her office figuring out what she wanted to say to Sara before she called.

“I know.” Sara’s words were quiet and filled with regret that Ava was unable to register as her exhaustion finally gave way to her frustration.

She slammed the mug down on the side table next to the tumbler, the table shook a little, but she spared it no thought as she stood and began pacing the parlour, “You broke up with me because you thought that I deserved better. And then you’re kissing me and telling me that you love me.” She spun on her heel to face Sara who had her head bowed, “Is that because I don’t deserve better anymore, because I’m just a clone?”

Sara’s head shot up, “No, Ava…”

But Ava was lost to her thoughts again, words tumbling from her lips, “Is it okay to be with me now because if anything bad happens to me you can just go and get another one?”

“I would never…” Sara tried to interject but Ava was still pacing, still venting, and Sara knew she owed the woman a chance to get everything out.

Her pacing had carried her all the way across the room, she laid her palms on the desk in front of her, leaning heavily against it. She had one last question, one she had been afraid to ask, fearful of whatever the answer might be, “Did you just tell me that you loved me to try and get me to go along with that insane plan to free Mallus?”

“Ava stop.” And Ava did. Sara’s hands came to rest on her hips; her head lay between Ava’s shoulder blades. It was as though Sara was an anchor, a touchstone for Ava in the maelstrom of feelings and emotions that kept spiralling out of control. Sara calmed the storm, even when Ava had always believed that Sara _was_ the storm.

“I still think you deserve better than me, but I want to be deserving of you.” There was a gentle pressure as Sara butted her head against Ava’s back, no doubt reprimanding herself for putting selfish thoughts into words. “And I’m stupid. You wanted to stay and help me fight that dark part of me and I sent you away because I was too stupid to realise you were already fighting it. And you were already winning.”

The hands at her waist pushed gently, turning Ava so that she and Sara were facing each other, “You are not replaceable, not to me. There may be thousands just like you, but none of them are _just_ like you. It’s as though you were made to be different.” She watched as Sara grimaced, hating the taste of anything that implied Ava was somehow less. “I wish I could put that into better words, something that doesn’t sound like I’m just offering up platitudes, because you are incredible.” A hand was placed against Ava’s chest, the same gesture Ava had used to comfort Sara a time or two, “And I told you that I loved you because I meant it.”

She hadn’t even realised that she had moved, that she had surged forward and taken Sara into her arms until their lips were pressed together in a desperately desired kiss. Ava needed the connection, wanted the intimacy, craved the closeness. The hand upon her chest pressed against her; no, it wasn’t pressing, it was pushing, Sara was trying to end the kiss.

Ava tore her mouth from Sara’s and moved away from the other woman, placing distance between them, “Oh god, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I thought…”

But Sara was right there, reaching out and encouraging Ava to come back to her, “You thought right,” she guided them into a light kiss, a simple brush of lips to confirm that Sara wanted what Ava did, “I wasn’t expecting you to be sure about us so soon.”

Ava rested her forehead against Sara’s, staying close, “You are the one thing I can be absolutely sure about.”

“I am?” Sara was surprised by the admission given their earlier conversation.

“I’ve spent the last few days looking for answers, trying to piece together something… anything that can give me…” Ava searched for a word that could encompass all that she sought.

“Understanding,” Sara offered.

“Yeah,” It was exactly what she was seeking, understanding who she was and where she had come from, why she had been created and for what purpose, to know herself. “I got hold of Rip’s courier log. He visited 2213 exactly twelve times.”

“That makes sense, it accounts for you and the eleven that came before you.” Ava could see Sara struggling to find what she was getting at.

She decided to help her, “The dates that he went to 2213 are what I’m interested in. His first jump was just over six years ago and his twelfth was four years ago.”

“So the first eleven only lasted two years?”

“Yep, and I’ve been around for four years. What makes me different to the others?”

Sara’s brow furrowed as she recalled something from the day that she, Ray and Gary had taken a trip to Fresno, “You know, the actors that Rip had playing your parents said that they got the gig four years ago, so they only ever played _your_ parents.”

“Why would he not have parents for the others?”

Neither one of them could readily come up with any sort of plausible answer for that.

“Anyway, what does that have to do with me?” Sara asked, circling back to the beginning of the conversation.

“It means **_I_** chose you,” Ava tapped her own chest, emphasising that it was this body and this heart that had taken the steps to forge a relationship with Sara, “You’re mine.” She heard that statement in her head and cringed, “That wasn’t meant to sound so possessive; I didn’t mean to imply that I owned you or anything so archaic.”

Sara huffed out a chuckle at Ava’s rambling, “It’s okay,” she took Ava’s hands in her own and tugged the other woman closer until they could wrap their arms around each other, she placed her lips close to Ava’s ear, “I am yours.”

Ava sank into Sara’s embrace; taking comfort and strength, solace and acceptance, and finally allowing the tiredness that invaded every part of her to take over, “Can I stay here tonight?”

Sara drew back enough so that she could see Ava’s face and try to judge what Ava was really asking, and if she was ready for what she was asking. Hesitant, but hopeful eyes lingered on Sara’s lips for a moment before rising to meet Sara’s eyes, clarifying her request,  “Can I stay with you tonight?”

Placing a sweet kiss on Ava’s lips Sara gave her patented Sara Lance smirk, “Well, you do have a reservation.”

~

Absolutely convinced that when she had fallen asleep she had done so with a warm body pressed against her own and a head resting on her shoulder Sara didn’t immediately panic when she reached across the bed to find the other side empty. The sheets still held some lingering heat to suggest that Ava had not been gone too long.

Upon returning to her quarters the previous evening they had undressed and slipped into bed and each other’s arms. They had shared a few wonderfully languid kisses before falling asleep; sleep that had eluded Sara earlier in the night and sleep that Ava had desperately needed.

For several more minutes Sara refused to wake up fully, hoping that her absentee lover would return so that they could become more intimately reacquainted with one another’s bodies, or just so they snuggle, Sara would be cool with either. But when she heard no movement from her private bathroom, and the main doors did not open Sara decided to open her eyes for further investigation.

She pushed up onto her elbows so that she could better survey her darkened quarters. The low light of the bedside lamp threw just enough illumination around the space to reveal Ava sitting at the desk across the room, hands moving over the touch screen of Sara’s computer terminal.

“Hey,” she spoke softly so as not to startle the concentrating woman.

Ava turned in the chair, a smile on her face when her eyes fell on her sleep tousled girlfriend, “Hey.”

“What are you doing all the way over there and dressed when you should be over here and undressed?” Sara put on her best pout, hoping it would be enough to convince Ava to join her now that she was awake.

No such luck. Ava turned back to what she was doing on the terminal, “I have a plan of action. I know what I need to do. How I’m going to get my answers.”

Sara was out of bed and searching the floor for something to wear, she found an appropriate item of clothing and as she pulled it on over her naked body she moved across the room to stand behind Ava, “You see, one night with me and you’re all Action Woman again. Am I good, or am I good?” She draped her arms over Ava’s shoulders and dropped a kiss onto her head, “Are you wearing my tee-shirt?”

“Oh like you aren’t always wearing my shirt,” Ava grabbed Sara’s wrists and in a well-executed move pulled Sara around and dropped her into her lap, “And would you look at that, you’re wearing my shirt!”

Sara silenced any and all arguments with a good morning kiss, and while Ava was still recovering Sara investigated what Ava was using her computer for, “Are you hacking into the Time Bureau mainframe? You could get me into a lot of trouble if the Director finds out.”

“Ooh will she be angry with you?” Ava played along.

“Very angry. There could be punishment.” Sara confirmed, her voice sounding just a little bit too excited by the prospect, so before she could lose herself to that particular tangent of thought she focused, “So what it this plan of action you have been formulating instead of staying in bed with me?”

“I’m opening a port in the mainframe to allow the Waverider systems to have access to the Time Bureau. I want to ask Zari if she can recover the file that Rip deleted and maybe have a dig around and see if there is anything else in his files that could provide any information that could help me.” Ava explained as she reached around both sides of Sara to continue entering commands on the computer.

“Are you sure you’re okay with bringing Zari in on this? Telling her everything?” Sara cupped Ava’s face in her hands, bringing the other woman’s attention back to her.

“It’s who I am Sara, and it’s something that I have to learn to accept. As long as you still…”

“I still.” Sara insisted, whatever it was that Ava would have asked Sara was most definitely still there for it.

Ava tightened her arms around Sara, appreciating Sara’s unwavering support, “Good, because I’m really going to need you for the next part of the plan.”

Well that sounded ominous, “And what might that be?”

“I want to go back to 2213.”

~


	2. Chapter 2

The lab was quiet; not because it was empty, in fact there were four people currently occupying the space. It was the quiet of everybody having been stunned into silence.

Sara stood just inside the doorway, her mouth clamped shut as she observed the other three; Ray was hunched over his work bench, a soldering iron in one hand poised over a metal plate, perfectly motionless; Ava was standing in the middle of the room, her mouth opening and closing as she tried to form words, or even just sounds; Zari was sat at her computer, her head tilted to one side as she tried to figure out why everyone was being weird.

“’Okay’?” Ava finally managed to get the first word out, and that seemed to encourage more words to follow. “Zari, I just told you that I am a clone, one of thousands from the 23rd century. That Rip Hunter procured me, wiped my memory and gave me a fake history, and that I am the 12th such that he has done this to. I’m giving you access to and asking you to search the Time Bureau mainframe for any files that might pertain to my origin. And your sole response is a completely unfazed ‘Okay’.”

“Yeah,” Zari confirmed, but the looks she was receiving from the others implied that further explanation was required, she pointed in the direction of her lab partner, “Ray is a billionaire who spent a large chunk of his personal fortune on building an exo-suit that can make him shrink and fly.” Next she indicated Sara who was still leaning in the doorway, “Sara is an ex-assassin who has died twice; the first time she was resurrected by a supernatural hot tub and the second time by an Artificial Intelligence from the future.” She held up her totem, “I have a magical necklace that lets me control the element of air. We all live on a ship that jumps backwards and forwards in time. Ava, you being a clone isn’t weird, that’s just Tuesday.”

In the near silence that followed Zari’s recounting of just a few of the oddities aboard the Waverider Ray could be heard muttering indignantly something like, _‘it does more than make me shrink and fly’_.

Then in an action that no one would have expected from the usually stoic Director of the Time Bureau, Ava rounded the workbench and pulled a Zari into a hug, “Don’t ever change Zari.”

Sara watched with a little too much amusement as Zari endured the prolonged physical contact. Her eyes met Sara’s over Ava’s shoulder and Sara mouthed two words, ‘thank you’. Zari’s reaction, blasé, bordering on bored was probably exactly what Ava needed to not feel like there was something wrong with her, and a little more like one of the group of misfits she seemed to be spending more and more of her time with. If Ava hadn’t hugged her Sara was sure she would have.

Finally Zari managed to squirm her way free of Ava’s embrace, passing off her moment of inclusiveness with a casual, “Just bringing the perspective. The only thing I am disturbed by is the fact that you think I couldn’t hack into the Time Bureau without your help.”

“Oh I know you could do it just fine without my help, but I need this to be semi-official and so I thought I would give you permission.” Ava explained.

“Permission is so boring. But if it helps you find the answers you’re after then I’m in.” Zari begins typing on her keyboard, the Time Bureau logo disappears and a dialogue box appears in the middle of the screen. Zari is ready to get to work.

“Thank you Zari. I’m trusting you…” Ava is probably about to launch into a long spiel about respect and privacy but Zari saves her the trouble.

Without even glancing up from her screen or ceasing her typing, “Yeah, yeah, I’ll only search for what I’m looking for. No detours into personnel files or mission reports. Besides those mission reports all probably say things like ‘and today we successfully tracked down and dealt with a level 8 anachronism, and then Gary tripped over his shoelaces’.”

Sara laughed, she couldn’t help it, but the sound was choked off when Ava sent a glare in her direction. “We should probably go,” Sara suggests quickly and ducks out of the lab.

Ava watches Zari for a moment longer as the hacker’s fingers fly over the keys, both eager and terrified of what the other woman might discover, and then follows Sara from the room.

She catches up with her girlfriend in the corridor outside the fabrication room, “You should probably wear something to 2213 that isn’t a Time Bureau suit.”

“What’s wrong with my suit? And I never knew that you died twice, it’s not in your file, what happened the second time?”

“Rip shot me.” Sara watched Ava’s eyes widen, “And when that didn’t take he snapped my neck.” Sara’s explanation was just the facts, it had to be. That time in the Legends history was pretty dark; Rip’s mind had been restructured by the Legion of Doom and Jax had nearly become a murderer to claim vengeance in her name. It was no surprise that the incident had not been recorded in any of the Time Bureau files on the Legends.

The mention of Rip was also difficult for Ava to take. Her once trusted mentor and friend had proved to be anything but. She hated him for the secrets he had kept from her, about her, but part of her still admired the man with his focus on the greater good at the cost of all personal entanglements. She had once strived to be just like him, but as she watched Sara remove a pair of jeans from the fabricator and programme in a black leather motorcycle jacket she could no longer imagine her life without this particular entanglement.

~

Holographic advertising and the mass production of clones might be everyday sights in 2213, but a magical doorway from another time and place could raise some questions and so they opened the portal in a deserted alleyway, allowing their sudden appearance in this time period to go undetected.

The last time Sara had visited it had been a grey and rainy day, a miserable day to match her miserable mood which had only been worsened by the sight her ex-girlfriends face staring back at her from just about everywhere. But today was a gorgeous day, sunny with blue skies, once again reflecting the mood in her heart. All those faces would still be there but Sarah knew she had the most beautiful one of all by her side. After slipping on a pair of sunglasses and waiting for Ava to do the same, Sara took her girlfriends hand and led her out of the alleyway and onto the streets of Vancouver.

Having been limited in her experience to just the AVA facility on the previous occasion Ava had only seen the black uniformed military clones, plus the recently woken scrub wearing ‘fembot’. There was the odd one or two of those patrolling the vicinity, there was also a yellow suited education specialist leading a guided tour to a group of tourists by the looks of it, but the turquoise sporting domestic models appeared to be the most numerous, pushing infants in strollers or clutching the hands of smaller children as they went about their daily routine. All wearing their identical utility jumpsuits, albeit separated by the colour of their designated task group, and their hair pulled back in the standard bun style. Sara took a moment to wonder if it was just pure coincidence that the AVA clones and the Time Bureau employed the same hairstyle, or if Rip had taken the idea from the original AVA clone and run with it. She was sure that they were all adept at their assigned duties, but they were all so… stiff, limited and blank, not like her Ava.

Her Ava was so full of life; she was vibrant and fiery, the evolution of their relationship from combatants to friends to lovers more than showcased that; she was intelligent and adaptable, well the intelligence had always been there but it did take a little while to convince her bending the rules would not be the end of the world and was actually more fun. Despite the physical similarities she shared with her ‘sisters’ Ava was unique as far as Sara was concerned; she was different and she was special and they were going to find the answers that she deserved to know about herself.

They had almost reached the docks when the giant dome of the AVA Corporation with its huge holographic banner came into view across the water. At the sight Sara felt the hand in hers grip a little more tightly, and when Ava stopped moving so did Sara. Looking back at the other woman, even behind the dark sunglasses Sara could see the rising panic in her eyes. Stroking her thumb gently over Ava’s knuckles Sara surveyed the immediate area, a place called Terra Breads caught her eyes, but more than that a distinct aroma “Hey, you want to stop and get a coffee before we carry on? We never did get that second date.” Without waiting for an answer Sara tugged Ava towards the bakery; she knew nothing motivated Ava more than caffeine!

Once inside both remove their sunglasses so they are better able to read the long list of speciality coffees from the menu behind the counter. An overly eager young man appeared before them, ready to take their order.

Sara begins with her own choice, “Can I have a Macchiato with a shot of hazelnut syrup for me, and…”

“A Café Latte, extra shot of espresso, hold the foam,” the enthusiastic barista completed, seeming rather proud of himself, “Coming right up.”

As he rushes off to fill the orders Sara has to shove Ava to get her to move aside, the other woman gaping after the barista, “How did he know my order?” She asks as soon as they are out of earshot and gathering packets of sweetener and stirrers, “Sara, how did he know my exact order?”

Sara couldn’t help herself, “Maybe you just have a familiar face.”

Ava put her sunglasses back on and ignored Sara while they waited for their order, but she did curl her arm around the smaller woman’s waist and slip her hand into the front pocket of her jeans until they were called.

~

Sara settled them at one of the outside tables, with a slightly obscured view of the AVA Corp building, hoping that it would serve as some sort of immersion therapy for the other woman. They sat in silence drinking their coffee, Sara watching Ava and Ava watching a red clothed clone halt the traffic for a family to cross the street.

“I fired my parents.” Ava suddenly broke the silence, “It was actually quite cathartic. I never wanted to be around them. They felt so distant, like strangers. Now I know why, at least finding out the truth about myself explained that.”

“Just as well,” Sara replied and took to swirling the contents of her cup with an intense focus.

“Sara… what did you do?” Ava lowered her sunglasses so she could look at Sara over the top of them, both eyebrows raised, the look that would eventually make Sara give up whatever it was she was trying to hide.

“I may or may not have… kind of… sort of… held a knife to your mothers throat,” the final words were mumbled into her cup as she raised it to her lips, using it as a shield but she could still feel ‘the look’. She placed her cup down very precisely on the table and finally met Ava’s eyes, “She didn’t remember how her only daughter spent her 15th birthday, so I knew they were lying and I wanted the truth. At the time it seemed like the best way to go about it.”

“You know I didn’t actually spend my 15th birthday paintballing. That memory isn’t mine.” Ava’s words were tinged with regret, not because the memory wasn’t real but because it was a story she had shared with Sara on their date, a story that had both amused and impressed the ex-assassin, and it wasn’t true.

“Maybe not, but it still informs the person you’ve become.” Even if that particular experience had been implanted in her memory it was still an experience, one that could be learned from, drawn from.

“Do you really believe that?” Ava was sceptical, as she was with most things about her history.

“Do I believe that you would use a friend as a human shield? I hope not. Do I believe that memory, whether real or fake, means that you have a creatively strategic mind? Absolutely.” Of that Sara was completely certain. She remembered their fight against the Romans, shackles and shields and an immediate synergy allowing them to fight side by side, then there had been the Vikings, the pirates, even the clone army. “Just so you know I would make a terrible human shield. I’m far too little.”

A small laugh escaped Ava as she thought about that visual, “I know what you’re trying to do.”

“Distract you?” Sara glanced sideways at Ava, “Is it working?”

She did her best to keep her focus with Sara and not on the huge sphere behind the other woman’s head that displayed her name in fifty foot high letters, “Not really, but thank you for trying.”

Draining the last of her Macchiato Sara pushed her empty cup to the middle of the table and stood up, extending her hand to Ava, “Are you ready to go?”

“No.” She placed her hand in Sara’s, taking comfort from the small bit of affection, “But I’m going to do it anyway.”

Sara tugged Ava to her feet and into her arms, “That’s my girl.”

“Now who’s possessive?” Ava teased as she slid her arms around Sara’s waist and linked her hands together.

Sara pushed up onto her toes and pressed a lingering kiss to Ava’s lips. She would have happily continued the make out session if it wasn’t for the startled gasp that was followed by a disgusted tut from behind them.

Breaking the kiss Sara rounded on whoever it was that had the audacity to interrupt. On the next table she found a woman around her own age, taking afternoon tea with scones and cream. Sitting beside her was one of the domestic clones bottle feeding a baby. Sara guessed that it was the woman showing her distaste for the public display of affection and the clone who had been shocked by it. Clearly it was not the done thing to develop romantic feelings towards your clone, or allow them to dress in anything other than boiler suits.

As they passed the table on their way out Sara leaned into the woman, “There’s a reason they’re advertised as fully functional, they can do this amazing thing with their tongues…”

“Sara!” Ava squeaked and dragged Sara away from the café, but not before Sara was able to perform her infamous finger guns and leave a choking woman and a flustered clone in her wake.

They continued to make their way towards the docks, holding hands as they wandered. For now they could be just like any other regular couple enjoying an afternoon in each other’s company. But they weren’t like any other regular couple; they were a time traveller who had died and been resurrected twice and a clone with no true memory of who or what she was. Regular was overrated, as was normal and they had put those notions to rest after their first date, happy with being irregular and abnormal, as long as they were together.

As they got closer to the AVA Corp building Sara could feel Ava’s grip get tighter, she squeezed back, a silent reminder that she was there. They stopped at the edge of the concourse that led up to the building entrance.

Ava surveyed the building before them with a critical eye, entrances and exits, security and protection, but no amount of observation could help her formulate the next part of her plan, “So, how’re we going to do this?”

It spoke volumes to Sara of how freaked out Ava must be to turn the mission over to someone else, “I have a plan,” she felt Ava’s complete attention on her, “We’re going to walk through the front door and ask to speak to whoever is in charge, and then I’m going to ask if I can trade you in for a new model,” Sara finally turned her head to look at Ava.

An exasperated exhale and head shake could not completely hide the smile that graced Ava’s features. While she was still insecure about the truth of herself, Sara’s joke should have felt like a dagger to the heart, but it didn’t. It didn’t because Sara was with her, in all the ways that she could be; she gave her friendship and love, courage and strength, and belief. A belief so strong that she knew she was ready to go get her answers no matter what they might be, “Let’s do this.”

With her head held high and her hand in Sara’s, Ava started towards the entrance and didn’t look back.

~

Walking through the front doors of the AVA Corporation, instead of breaking in through the backdoor, was something of a novelty for Sara. She half expected an entire battalion of combat clones to descend upon them the moment that they walked through the entrance; she was only a little bit disappointed that there wasn’t.

Opulent was a good word to describe the atrium style reception they had found themselves in, palatial was another. Sara could tell that whoever had designed the space had money and good taste and wasn’t shy about showing either; from the leather couches and dark wood tables in the waiting area, to the marble floor that you could practically see your reflection in.

Whoever was in charge was clearly proud of their product; two large screens running promotional videos showing the various AVA models improving the lives of everyday people, and five over large holographic banners showcasing the benefits of each clone type available.

There were three clones in the reception; two were stationed either side of the entrance and the third seemed to have the role of receptionist. By their stance and bearing the two at the door were from the military group but wore tailored dark grey suits rather than the black fatigue style jumpsuits, though they still had the standard bun hairstyle. The receptionist wasn’t like any of the other clones Sara had seen; as she stepped out from behind her desk and walked towards them her movements were graceful, almost seductive. She wore a skirt suit of light grey and heels that helped to accentuate the long legs that Sara had a particular weakness for on her girlfriend. She was also older than any of the other clones Sara had encountered before, perhaps around the mid-forties.

Stopping just a few feet from Sara and Ava the receptionist smiled warmly at them, “Welcome to the AVA Corporation. Doctor Morgan has been expecting you.”

Before either of them could ask who Doctor Morgan was a ding echoed off the walls of the atrium and drew their attention to a bank of elevators over on the right side of the reception. The middle elevator, the one flanked with velvet ropes to identify it for use by only the top executives of the company, opened its doors to allow two people to exit. The first was a clone that was maybe two or three years older than Ava, she wore an identical suit to the receptionist and also had the same graceful movement.

But the second woman was something else; she had the same face as the clones but much older, her blonde hair grading into silver cascaded down past her shoulders, her skin was still smooth but showed small signs of her age at her eyes and mouth. Dressed completely in white flowing garments, she was elegant, regal. She walked with a cane, and even her limp was dignified.

When her eyes found Ava she exhaled a sigh, of relief and joy and awe, “I always knew you would find your way home.” The hand not resting on her cane reached towards Ava but withdrew when Ava shifted uncomfortably, “You don’t know who I am, do you?”

“I’m sorry,” Ava shook her head ruefully.

“What has he done to you?” The other woman extended her hand once more, this time in a formal greeting, “My name is Doctor Avalyn Morgan, and I created you.”

~


	3. Chapter 3

When Sara had first met Ava Sharpe, in the lobby of Time Bureau Headquarters surrounded by armed agents, she had thought the other woman was a bitch. Hot, but still a bitch. Over the following weeks and months that first impression had been amended into thinking the other woman was a self-righteous bitch with a superiority complex. There was no doubt that Ava was incredibly intelligent, highly skilled at her job and always had the best of intentions, but the ruthless Time Bureau persona she worked hard to cultivate was just… a bitch.

The mission against the invading Vikings had changed everything though. Ava had let her hair down both literally and figuratively; she had revealed a playful and caring side that Sara had found herself instantly drawn to and from that moment on the word bitch had no longer applied.

Sara’s first impression of Doctor Avalyn Morgan was a narcissist with a god complex. Maybe that was a little unfair. The woman was clearly a genius, both scientifically and in business, her thriving company and the production of the Advanced Variant Automaton spoke to those accomplishments. Sara didn’t even want to begin untangling the decision to find appropriate words to form the acronym AVA. And then there was creating an entire race of beings in her own image, but perhaps that was just because her own DNA was the most readily available; though Sara did have to agree that the face was beautiful and the body was banging. However, there was just something about the woman that already rubbed Sara the wrong way; a feeling, an instinct that Sara had learned to pay attention to long ago.

League of Assassins training meant that Sara was adept at making herself invisible; it was a task that should have been impossible in the close confines of the elevator but she had managed it, and not because of her training. The other three occupants were far too intrigued by each other to remember that Sara was even there.

Ava seemed cautiously captivated by Doctor Morgan, the woman who had created her and the closest thing that she would truly have to a mother. Like a dutiful daughter Ava listened as the doctor continued to wax lyrical about her research, its impact on the scientific community and how it could revolutionise the medical industry. No doubt Ava was committing every detail to memory in case one of those details could unlock the mystery to her existence. But beneath the façade of the obedient daughter there was also a child that was desperate to know why this woman, her mother, had given her away.

Sara switched her attention to the personal assistant, whose name they had learned was Saba. It shouldn’t have surprised her that the clones closest to the doctor had been given different designations; she suspected that it eliminated any confusion over who was being addressed. Saba watched Ava with a strange mix of affection and jealousy, both of which puzzled Sara. She remembered all too well how that one particular clone had treated Ava on their previous visit, insisting that Ava wasn’t one of them and needed to be reprocessed, but Saba appeared genuinely happy to see Ava. However, every time the doctor would absently brush her hand along Ava’s arm Saba’s lip would curl in an obvious display of envy. What did a clone have to be jealous of? Weren’t they all created equal? Sara dispelled that notion immediately; Ava was not like the other clones, and it seemed that Saba wasn’t either. Perhaps this was a simple case of sibling rivalry, a desire for their mother’s attention.

This brought Sara to the fourth occupant of the elevator: Doctor Avalyn Morgan. Her absolute joy at Ava’s return added strength to the argument that Ava was special, but it caused Sara concern. She couldn’t place what it was exactly, but something about the way Avalyn looked at her long lost daughter woke every recently discovered protective girlfriend instinct Sara had. But, for now, Sara would play the super supportive girlfriend that Ava needed her to be.

Finally the elevator came to a stop, the doors opening directly into Doctor Morgan’s office. Like the reception area they had left behind on the first floor this office space was also exceptionally lavish. The cream coloured walls and carpets and the pale woods of the furniture gave a light and airy feel to the room, helped greatly by the floor to ceiling windows that made up the far wall and boasted a panoramic view of the Vancouver skyline. The walls to either side were expertly arranged with an alarming number of qualification certificates and a fair number of framed magazine covers all featuring the good doctor. Both of these collections were outnumbered by the vast array of awards that lined the surface of the credenza that was positioned behind the desk so that when visitors looked at the doctor they couldn’t fail to notice them. The other items that you couldn’t help but notice were the two sculptures that were placed in the corners by the window, two naked sculptures of the AVA; one in the pose of Sandro Botticelli’s _The Birth of Venus_ and the other, also Venus, from Peter Paul Rubens _The Judgment of Paris_ complete with golden apple in hand. Sara was definitely revisiting the narcissist theory.

Sara and Ava seated themselves in the visitor chairs as Doctor Morgan rounded her desk followed by her assistant. Once the doctor was seated Saba took possession of the walking cane and fussed as she placed it out of the way but within easy reach of the owner, before returning to her own desk by the elevator doors. Avalyn settled herself comfortably in her chair and brought her attention to Sara and Ava; well just Ava really.

For an almost awkward amount of time Avalyn simply looked at Ava; the smile as she regarded her was wistful, bitter sweet, tinged with a little sadness. Eventually, with the tiniest shake of her head and a small sigh, the doctor seemed to accept that there was no recognition or recollection from Ava, “He really did wipe your memory? He did say he wanted to try that with the next one.”

“Yes.” Ava’s answer was abrupt, her anger over having her true identity and her memory stolen from her had yet to abate, but from Avalyn’s words it would seem that she had no part in the actual deed, and her tone suggested she had been against such a procedure. The doctor did not deserve her terse attitude, especially if Ava wanted answers from the woman. After a deep calming breath she continued, “I didn’t even know I was a clone until we came here the last time.”

“Do you know how long you’ve been…” So many words could be used to complete the question and yet Avalyn chose to let it hang open ended, Ava would know what was being asked of her, and Sara felt a smidgen of respect manifest for the woman trying to spare Ava’s feelings.

“Four years.” This was said with more ease, more certainty. Ava had analysed data and reached a logical conclusion, a fact, and Ava very much liked facts.

The answer appeared to take Avalyn by surprise, “So you did last longer than any of the others, perhaps he was right after all.” The last part was said more to herself, but Sara and Ava both heard it clearly and their heads snapped up. Avalyn noticed the tension immediately and held up her hands in a placating gesture, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that I condoned his behaviour, but it is very rare that I am proved wrong.”

The tense atmosphere dissipated and everybody relaxed again. Then came the question that Sara had not been looking forward to, “But if you didn’t know you were a clone how did you even know to come here?” Avalyn rested her forearms upon her desk and leaned forward, closer, “To come to 2213?”

The two of them must have made quite the comical image as they both fixed the doctor with identical looks of surprise before turning those looks on one another. Ava’s eyebrows raised and Sara gave a small shrug, it was far too late to feign confusion, or to talk their way out of it but Ava was going to try anyway, “Excuse me?”

Avalyn laughed; her chuckle so like Ava’s it was scary. She fluttered her hand, shooing away the terrible attempts at subterfuge, “I’m a business woman. I like to know where my clones are going and what they will be doing; it helps to select the correct model for the customer. Mr Hunter was quite open about the Bureau and what he required for a time travel agent. ”

A small nod, an acceptance that the doctor did indeed have the knowledge she spoke of. Ava turned slightly in her seat to face her girlfriend, “Actually it was Sara that that came here first, I followed.”

Sara picked up the invitation to recount the steps that had prompted her to make the trip to 2213, and for the first time since the woman had stepped out of the elevator she had Avalyn’s undivided attention. Sara cleared her throat to give herself a precious moment to wonder where to begin the story, no need to get too personal too soon, especially if Ava didn’t want to disclose their romantic relationship, “One of Ava’s colleagues contacted me to say she’d been missing from work for a few days, which was really unlike her…”

“He called you Ava?” Avalyn cut in, her voice sharp and accusing. There was no need for either of them to provide her with an answer, she seemed to be doing just fine all by herself, “I suppose it makes sense to keep the name for continuity purposes, to avoid suspicion in the ranks, maintain cover identity…” She trailed off, realising she was thinking out loud and getting away from the topic of discussion, “I’m sorry, please continue.”

“While we were investigating I pursued a lead and it brought me here to 2213.” At this point in the story Sara looked to Ava.

Who filled in her part of arriving in the time period, “The Bureau had sanctioned 2213 as a no fly zone and so I had to come and bring her back.”

“In the meantime we discovered why it had been put off limits,” Sara replayed the moment in her head when the first military clone had wandered past she, Ray and Gary; the initial panic of Ava having tracked them down so quickly, the confusion of seeing more and more of that face surrounding her, Gary proposing the robot idea and Ray making the final discovery, “Clones were not what I was expecting.” At first Sara had been enraged, not because Ava was a clone but because she believed she had been lied to, having no idea that Ava had also been lied to, “I regret that learning the truth caused Ava so much pain, but she deserved to know.”

“And I’m glad I do,” That was for Sara, to let her know that as hard as it had been to accept what she was, she would much rather know than be forever ignorant of her origin. Discovering that she was a clone was just the first step though, “but there are just so many unanswered questions. I confronted Rip about it; he told me I was the twelfth, that he erased my memory to make it easier, and then he kept telling me that I was exceptional, that I was special.”

“You are special.” Avalyn’s statement was absolute; no room for doubt or interpretation.

Ava exhaled a shaky breath. It was one thing to be told that by the mentor that you had idolised even when it was revealed that he had been the one to take so much from her. It was another to have it whispered against her lips by the lover who still wanted her and supported her no matter what. But it was something else entirely to hear it from the woman who had created her, created thousands more just like her but held her apart, and Ava hoped that she could finally find out why, she could hear the tears in her voice as she asked, pleaded, “Will you tell me why?”

“No,” Avalyn stood from her desk and took her cane in hand, “I’ll show you.”

~


	4. Chapter 4

The closed door seemed to be mocking Sara, and no matter how hard she stared it continued to remain closed, taunting her with what might be lurking behind it. Beyond the simple wooden barrier were secrets not for Sara’s ears, knowledge that Sara was not to be privy to, information that would be forever out of her reach as it slowly drove her crazy… crazier.

It had only been a few minutes since Dr Morgan had placed her hand upon the palm scanner next to the aforementioned, and crazy inducing, door and she and Ava had disappeared behind it to begin a journey of self-discovery but already Sara was feeling anxious. She had promised Ava that she would be with her every step of the way; through every truth and hurt, every victory and heartbreak. But Avalyn had had other ideas.

The good doctor thought it would be for the best if it were just she and Ava for these first steps. She claimed that much of what she needed to impart was personal, an intimate exchange between creator and created; between them existed a wrong that needed to be put right. Almost as an afterthought Avalyn had explained that her work was proprietary and many of her contracts required she keep it classified. Sara had wanted to object, to point out that she had already been behind the scenes, but when she turned to Ava for support the words had died on her lips before they had ever been voiced.

Ava needed this, needed the answers that only Avalyn could provide, on a visceral level. Stripped of everything she knew about herself, or thought she knew about herself, Ava was lost. There was no way that Sara would do anything that would jeopardise Ava from finding her truth. With a short nod Sara had accepted Avalyn’s terms graciously and stayed in her seat as they had made their way from the office and left Sara under the watchful eye of Saba.

She felt restless; had already forced her fingers to stop tapping an erratic beat against the arm of her chair, and then had to will her right knee to stop bouncing uncontrollably. In truth she wasn’t fidgeting because she was restless, she was uneasy. That nagging feeling that something wasn’t quite right about Doctor Avalyn Morgan, that beneath the brilliance and elegance something nefarious was at play.

With a sudden need to stretch her legs, and do some covert investigation, Sara pushed herself out of her chair, startling Saba in the process. Offering a wordless apology Sara made her way around the large desk so that she could better look at the collection of awards on the credenza; the Lasseter Award for contributions in medical science, the Cooperage Medal for outstanding achievement in biotechnology, the Kigali Prize for advances in neuroscience. Nothing suspicious there, the woman’s intelligence was obvious. At one end of the sideboard a framed photograph caught Sara’s eye; Avalyn was standing with a group of children and medical staff, above them a sign on the wall flanked by recently opened velvet curtains reads ‘The Avalyn Morgan Wing, Molineux Syndrome Specialists’. So she donated vast sums of money to local hospitals and got her name plastered all over the walls, doesn’t mean she wasn’t trying to compensate for something.

Bypassing _The Birth of Venus_ sculpture, doing her best to avert her gaze even if Venus did have her hands strategically placed to maintain her modesty, Sara stopped before the wall that held the framed magazine covers. Titles such as _The New Scientist_ that proclaimed Avalyn’s genius and heralded the arrival of the AVA, a special edition _Forbes_ that placed Avalyn as one of the wealthiest in the world, and even a lesbian lifestyle magazine called _Girls Who Do Girls_ that boasted to have the most revealing interview with the beautiful brainiac ever.

Sara was distracted from her search for another word that meant narcissist by a soft chirp from her communications device. A quick glance at Saba showed the woman was deeply engrossed with whatever it was she was doing so Sara reached up to activate her earpiece and nonchalantly stepped back over to the window to create as much distance between herself and the personal assistant as she could.

With the connection made Zari’s voice filtered through, “Hey Captain, is this a good time?”

Sara shot another quick glance towards Saba, making sure the woman was still absorbed in her work, “As good a time as any. What have you found?” Sara asked as she leaned casually against the nearest piece of furniture, which happened to be the sculpture she had dismissed earlier.

“Well I managed to locate Ava’s personnel file, but it’s completely corrupted. I have a programme running to try and restore it but I don’t expect to retrieve much.” After several key strokes the hacker continued speaking, “I’ve moved on to accessing Rip’s private files. There’s heavy encryption but nothing I can’t handle. Have you found anything on your end that could help?”

“When you get into Rip’s files try searching for the name Doctor Avalyn Morgan.” Sara did her best to enunciate the name through her hushed whispers, “That’s A-V-A-L-Y-N.”

“Is she important?” The clacking of computer keys suggested she was already adding the name to her search parameters, and doing a search in the Waverider archives.

“You could say that. She created the AVA,” Sara almost laughed at the complete lack of sound from the other end of the transmission.

No typing.

No talking.

Not even any breathing.

And then, “Holy shit! Well someone thinks a lot of themselves!” Clearly Zari had located an image of Doctor Morgan and summed up the entire situation with her own unique brand of tact.

“Exactly!” Sara was happy to indulge her inner monologue out loud, even for just a moment. But then she brought herself back to the professional captain and supportive girlfriend, “Let me know if you find something.”

“Will do.” Zari confirmed and disconnected their transmission amidst an exclamation from Ray in the background, something along the lines of ‘I told you she wasn’t the perfect woman’.

Sara remained where she was for a few more minutes, watching the little boats bobbing around in the harbour below. Unfortunately they were unable to hold her attention for very long and she found herself eying the door once again. Preparing to push herself away from her leaning position to go in search of another distraction, she braced a hand upon the sculpture and nearly tumbled to the floor when she felt the distinct impression of a marble nipple digging into the palm of her hand!

~

A magnetic lock slid into place as the door closed behind her and Ava found herself in a darkened corridor lit only by emergency lighting. Through the hazy red glow Ava could just make out another door at the far end of the corridor, and between here and there loomed the monstrous shadows of workstations, consoles, chairs, almost grotesque in their exaggerations of themselves. But maybe that was just Ava’s overactive imagination as she considered all of the possible narratives of her story.

Avalyn’s cane clicked against the floor tiles as she confidently navigated her way through the semi-dark to the nearest console and placed her hand upon it. The surface beneath activated and scanned the doctors palm, “Good morning Doctor Morgan,” the machine greeted her as the overhead lights changed colour to become a bright white.

As the area was illuminated Ava realised that the corridor she was standing in was in fact an elevated gantry. On her right side, what she had originally thought was an oddly angled wall changed from opaque to transparent allowing those present to observe what was taking place below. The space on the other side of the window was like an aircraft hangar; parts sectioned off from one another by tall barriers of corrugated metal, other smaller areas enclosed by glass. Tentatively Ava approached the window and gazed down; this first area housed a state of the art laboratory.

“Let’s start with the unpleasant boiler plate disclaimer,” Avalyn began as she joined Ava at the glass and looked out over her empire, “There are five types of AVA clone: military, industrial, domestic, educational and civil service. They are designed to satisfy a specific need in society; whether it is to expand the ranks of the armed services or meet the demand for qualified teachers. The projected life cycle of the third generation model is approximately ten years after which they are returned to be reprocessed.”

The ferocity with which Ava snapped her head up to glare at Avalyn was matched perfectly by the anger in the words she spat, “We’re disposable?”

Avalyn’s response was instant, “They are. You aren’t.”

The calm way in which the doctor had answered the question did much to dispel the sudden burning fury that had risen within her; a part of her remained incensed on behalf of those that were not like her but even that ember was doused when the subject of her ‘specialness’ was touched upon again, “I don’t understand. You keep saying that I’m different but you won’t tell me why.”

With her left hand resting on the head of her cane Avalyn was only able to use her right to gesture for Ava’s patience, “I promise I will explain everything, just hear me out, you need to know the full story.” Only when she was sure that Ava was placated did Avalyn return her attention to the laboratory below.

“I conceived the idea of the AVA in my dorm room at Purdue. I mapped my own brain, I used my own DNA and I produced the first AVA as my final year project. She was primitive but she had potential and so began my journey to creating the perfect clone,” Avalyn’s voice was wistful, lost in the memories of youth and discovery, with a click of her cane against the tile she returned to the present and continued with evident pride, “I’ve come a long way since then. Swapped my dorm room for the most advanced cloning facility in North America, perhaps even in the world.”

With a motion of her hand, too small to be called sweeping but implying such, Avalyn directed them back to the lab, “This is Research and Development. From here we use cutting edge technology to design the entire clone from brain to bone to bacteria. This is also where we do the Neuro Replication to Digital Storage,” seeing Ava’s wide eyed incomprehension Avalyn searched for a way to explain in laymen’s terms, “Where we record brains. We have the digital files of scientists, doctors, teachers, engineers, politicians, soldiers; we can choose just one or an amalgam of those files to create whatever the client requires.”

Over on the left side of lab a group of scientists in the obligatory white coats were gathered around a three dimensional hologram depicting the muscular system, “Right now we are developing the fourth generation of the military clone. The armed forces are one of our largest contracts and they have requested an increase in muscle mass and density so that the clones will be capable of handling a heavier weapons loadout. Using this technology we can tweak what already exists and make it better.”

Ava leaned her left shoulder against the glass and folded her arms; she even crossed her left ankle over her right in an attempt to project a nonchalance that she really didn’t feel, “Aren’t you concerned that you’re basically creating a slave race?”

A heavy sigh escaped Avalyn’s lips, a frustration at being asked that question – not for the first time, and also not for the first time by the person stood before her. But that discussion would not be remembered and so, “My mother was an exceptionally gifted neuro surgeon and my father was a leader in the field of bio engineering, therefore it was a safe assumption that I would have a predisposition, an aptitude and a desire to pursue a career in the sciences. It was in my genes, it was in my design.” Avalyn cast her gaze back down to the lab below, “So the AVAs are designed with both the ability and the interest for their task.”

“ _’We predestine and condition. We decant our babies as socialized human beings, as Alphas or Epsilons, as future sewage workers or future Directors of Hatcheries.’_ ” Ava quoted, her voice laden with sarcasm, waiting for Avalyn to scold her with a lecture about science versus ethics.

But Avalyn only offered a small smile, chuckling to herself over a treasured memory, “You were always fascinated with that book.” She lifted her cane and placed it back on the ground a step ahead as she started to walk. As she passed the other woman she paused, shaking her finger playfully, “Aldous Huxley was ahead of his time.”

For a moment all Ava could think about was the battered copy of _Brave New World_ that quite often graced her bedside table. It was one of the few personal possessions that she hadn’t thrown away because the memory associated with it was older than four years. She remembered studying the book in her senior year at Clovis North High School back in Fresno, but she had never attended high school, she had never written that essay discussing Huxley’s vision of a utilitarian society; but when she had held the novel over the waste paper basket, hovering above a framed photograph of a family holiday that had never happened, something had stayed her hand and she had returned it to its place by her bed. Now she wondered, dared to hope, that her connection to the book was a thread to a life she had lived before. She pulled herself from her reverie, turning she took a few steps forward so that she could join Avalyn at the next window, one that looked out over a familiar room.

“I believe that you’re already acquainted with our production facility.” Avalyn continued. A sly smile twitched at her lips; she had viewed the surveillance footage of the previous visit, watched as Ava had stepped through a time portal, seen the first clone and promptly passed out. “It must have been a bit of a shock.”

“Yeah, finding out that you’re a clone after a 3D printer has spat out a naked replica of you in front of a guy who still refers to you as ‘that mean Time Bureau lady’, your male work colleague who has a strange obsessive crush on you and your girlfriend – ex-girlfriend – was not ideal.” Ava cringed as she recalled the incident; a memory that she knew was real but desperately wished was a fabrication.

“Did Sara break up with you when she found out that you were a clone?” The Doctor’s tone was sharp, suggesting that if she didn’t like Ava’s answer she might very well march back to her office and tear Sara a new one.

As amusing as that scenario might be in her head Ava thought it best to spare Sara the reality, “No, we broke up before that. It was because of her baggage, not mine.”

She thought of the vehemence in Sara’s words as her mind had reeled from the discovery that she was a clone, words that reminded her of her accomplishments, of her worth; Sara’s unwavering support as she sought answers, begged for truth; strong arms, gentle hands, teasing smiles, all to let Ava know that she was there for her. “Sara’s actually been kind of great about everything. She’s been amazing really.” Ava lost herself to those thoughts until she felt a touch upon her arm, she glanced down to find Avalyn’s hand resting lightly against the leather of her sleeve.

When Ava didn’t shy away from her touch, as she had when they met in the lobby, Avalyn gave an affectionate squeeze, “It sounds like there are still a lot of feelings there. I hope you work things out.”

Too caught up in her thoughts about Sara, Ava spoke before she could censor herself, “Oh we worked it out last night.” Her eyes widened comically when she realised what her words and tone implied. Slack jawed she turned to Avalyn, and found an identical expression on the other woman’s face.

Several seconds passed before Avalyn cracked an absolutely wicked smile, “Well I’m glad Mr Hunter allowed you to keep your sexuality.”

So she had always been a lesbian, but… “Was I predisposed to like girls?”

For the first time Avalyn hesitated before answering, and when she did it was not a practiced argument designed to placate the critics, it was a simple statement, “Yes. I like girls, so you like girls.”

But desperate to get herself back on familiar and confident ground Avalyn indicated the large spherical machine in the centre of the room as it activated. The cage rotated as lasers began the process of creating bone and nerve and flesh, from the ground up building the body of yet another AVA. “Today we are producing a run of industrial clones; these ones have been upgraded to include advanced service engineering. Most of the industrial units are purchased by private companies for the manufacturing industry but the local council also uses them for utility maintenance and needed them to be a little more specialised in certain areas.”

“You can just programme in whatever knowledge they need, like a software update on a computer?” Ava wasn’t sure whether the thought amazed or horrified her.

“A very crude way to put it, but essentially that is exactly what it’s like.” She turned away from Ava and continued along the observation gantry, stopping at another window a little further down. She waited, allowing Ava to process whatever thoughts she was having, and then finally join her.

The next window looked down onto a large open space; sterile white walls a stark contrast to the navy of the padded mat that covered the vast majority of the floor. A dozen or so of the military clones were paired up, one half attacking with the baton that Ava herself favoured while the other half defended, disarmed and in some cases attacked. Ava could vouch for their proficiency with the weapon and their overall combat skills; they were good, but she was better.

“When Mr Hunter first approached me about obtaining an AVA to join his Time Bureau he gave me an outline of the sort of things that would be expected of an agent.” Avalyn could feel the other woman draw closer, she had listened patiently to everything Avalyn had shared with her, but as the dialogue finally turned towards the answers she sought Ava’s attention became a truly tangible thing, “We decided that a military unit would be the best choice; capable of following orders as well as issuing them, competent in all forms of combat and could be given a directive to keep their origin as a clone secret.”

“That makes sense; you wouldn’t want the other agents to see her as something inferior, or different.” She had been seen as different during her career at the Time Bureau; tough guys who had resented her being a woman chosen over them to move through the ranks, homophobes who disagreed with the partners she took to her bed. She didn’t even want to think about how some of them would have reacted if they had known her origin as a clone.

“She lasted two weeks,” as Avalyn expected Ava’s puzzled gaze met her own, “Mr Hunter told me that she took a bullet for another agent.”

“It was Gary,” Ava explained with a long suffering, but affectionate, sigh as she tapped her index finger against her left arm, “I got shot in the bicep…” she stopped, realisation striking, “ _she_ didn’t get shot in the bicep, did she?”

“No, she did exactly what she was designed to do; she put herself between a human and danger.” There was a strange mix of pride and sadness in the doctor’s voice as she spoke of her creation, of their duty and their death.

Not wanting to dwell on the first when there were another eleven to speak of, Avalyn continued, “With the second clone, as well as giving her the directive to keep her origin a secret, we also attempted to instil her with a sense of self-preservation, but core programming supersedes the power of suggestion and she only lasted a month.”

Gesturing ahead Avalyn allowed Ava to precede her to the next observation point. The room beyond this window housed a library of sorts; the glaringly white walls were tamed by large canvases depicting post-impressionist artwork, the books themselves arranged on shelving units that could only be described as abstract. Several of the red suited civil service and the yellow suited educational clones could be seen either reading on the couches scattered around the space, or working at the desks located near the front of the room.

“After that we introduced some of the civil service clones programming. We believed that it would allow for a more strategic approach, that she would look before she leapt,” Avalyn pressed her fingers against the glass, she remembered how she had hoped that the alterations would improve the life expectancy of the third clone, but sadly, “she thought about it and leapt anyway.”

“From there we added some of the domestic coding that allows those models to form a bond with the people they work with, thinking that perhaps if they had someone to come home to it would activate that self-preservation instinct.” There was that hint of hope in her tone once more, even though they both knew that this attempt had also failed.

“They died to protect the ones they loved,” Ava finished, she knew it was the only possible answer. She had the memories of the previous eleven clones, somehow Rip had managed to give her those as well as the entire fabricated life before that. She didn’t remember any near death experiences, unless you counted playing chicken in a time ship against the one and only Captain Sara Lance, so each of her deaths must have been modified by Rip to become a plausible event in her life.

“So which successful combination of programming and coding am I?” Clearly Avalyn and Rip had got it right at some point.

“None of them,” Avalyn smothered a laugh, watching Ava clench her jaw to stop herself from screaming or shouting in frustration.

“After he lost the eleventh Rip suggested that we wipe the memory of the twelfth, reasoning that if she didn’t know that she was a clone then she wouldn’t consider herself expendable. Unfortunately the AVAs weren’t designed to have a full personality,” Avalyn kept her gaze forward, unable to face Ava as she revealed that the mass produced units were little more than trained pets, “they carry the knowledge required to perform their duties and basic human interactions, they have the capacity to learn from their experiences but they were never meant to be…” the doctor struggled to find a way to complete her explanation.

Ava found them for her, “They were never meant to be real.” Her worst fear, the fear she had carried inside her heart and head since the very first time she had seen a squad of military clones all wearing the face she saw every day in the mirror. She closed her eyes and summoned to mind the moments that had followed:

_“…I’m not even real.” She could feel the tightness in her throat as she forced the words to pass her lips, her voice trembling as she felt her world crumble around her for the second time in just a few days._

_Sara’s hands reached for her, solid against her arms, holding her together where just days ago they had torn her apart, “Ava, you are real. You are as real as I feel about you.”_

_She wanted to believe Sara, but it was hard when the other woman was talking about feelings that she had denied Ava when she had broken her heart, “How can you even say that when I’m just like one of those things.”_

_What Sara said next left no room for doubt, it was simple though the meaning behind it was anything but “Because I know you…and you are different…”_

Ava took those words to give her strength, letting them wrap around her, Sara’s protection reaching out to her even when the other woman was absent. Finally she came back to herself, to the here and now, to Avalyn.

The doctor had moved a little further along the gantry but instead of looking down from the observation deck she faced back towards Ava. Her eyes held the question of whether Ava was ready to continue and Ava answered with a brief nod of her head.

“When I told him that wiping the memory wasn’t a possibility he broached the subject of Project Avalon.” With a slight tilt of her head Avalyn indicated the security door behind her that Ava had noticed when they first entered.

Now that they were closer Ava could clearly see the words ‘Project Avalon, Authorised Personnel Only’. “And what is Project Avalon?

Avalyn drew closer, reaching out as she had when she had first seen her long lost child, and this time Ava allowed touch. With Ava’s cheek warm against the palm of her left hand Avalyn gazed into identical eyes that held her hopes and dreams, “You are.”

~


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The following was the best I could do to cobble together something that made sense for the sake of the story. I'm a writer not a doctor!

As the door opened before Ava she felt the symbolism of the moment settle deep into her bones. The doorway to her creation, to her past, to the answers she had sought since she had discovered what she was; and suddenly she was afraid to step through it and learn the truth.

Avalyn was already on the other side looking back at her, both hands resting atop her cane and watching her with simple understanding and compassion. “Welcome to Project Avalon.”

With a fortifying breath Ava stepped across the threshold, “Avalon as in King Arthur, Excalibur and Camelot?”

“Avalon as in the island where the old and new religions overlap,” Avalyn explained.

“Magic and science,” Ava provided.

“And the place where King Arthur will return to the Earth,” Avalyn finished.

With a nod of her head, indicating for the other woman to follow her, she began to make her way along the hallway until it opened up into a diamond shaped intersection.  A further three hallways led away from the junction, and the slanted walls that made up the sides each held a single door and large windows that revealed the room within; it was the door on the closest right side that Avalyn led her towards. It hissed open at their approach and revealed a much smaller, but no less state of the art laboratory, similar to the one she had seen from the observation deck.

The Doctor ushered Ava inside and followed after, allowing Ava to wander the space undisturbed. It was overwhelming; monitors streaming data about organ function, readings of respiration and heartbeat, displaying spinning strands of DNA and animations of the human body building layer by layer; sketches and blueprints of equipment that had to first be invented before it could be manufactured; whiteboards with completed equations and formulas for who knew what.

“I told you when we started that my ultimate goal was to create the perfect clone, one that was indistinguishable from a human,” Avalyn began, Ava looked up from the hand written notebook she had found on a desk to where the Avalyn was stood in the centre of the room next to something large shrouded in a white sheet, “but that requires money. The brutal truth is that the Advanced Variant Automatons are means to an end, a way to finance my true work.” Avalyn reached out with her left hand to take a fistful of the white sheet, “Now let me tell you your story.”

A sharp tug and the white fabric rippled as it fell to the ground and revealed a tank; large, cylindrical and empty, “You weren’t spat out by some 3D printer, you were created from one of my embryos spliced with my DNA and then grown in this tank,” Avalyn rests her palm against the cold glass, almost affectionately, “From embryo to foetus to baby to full grown adult in two years. After two years you were birthed from the tank, able to walk and talk but from there you developed as any child would; learning from experience and developing a relationship with your environment.”

Ava found herself drawn to tank, reaching out with inquisitive fingers to touch the surface, much as a child would touch a mother’s stomach when told where they had come from. “How is any of that even possible?” She asked with sincere wonder in her voice.

“Do you really want the science?” Avalyn tilted her head quizzically as she looked around the side of the tank at Ava, already sure of the answer she would receive.

Ava drew her eyes away from the tank to meet the amusement in Avalyn’s, “Er… no, I think my head might explode,” she snapped her gaze back to the empty container as something fundamental occurred to her, “But if I was created from one of your embryos then doesn’t that make me you daughter, not your clone.”

“Not according to Webster’s dictionary definition of the term,” her voice altered as she began to quote, “the aggregate of genetically identical cells or organisms asexually produced by or from a single progenitor cell or organism.”

Ava’s shoulders sagged with resignation, “It was worth a shot.”

“You seem to be tied to this belief that you aren’t real,” Avalyn was by her side a moment later, “You come from the very same thing that we all do, you just got here a little differently than the rest of us. But you were born, you developed, you learned. You are as real as I am.” She tapped her cane against the floor to emphasise the point she was making.

Avalyn took a last look at the tank before glancing at the door behind her and then back to Ava. She could see the younger woman struggling to process what she had come to believe about herself and what Avalyn was telling her, taking pity Avalyn decided to attempt a different approach, “Forget the science,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand, “This only tells you _what_ you are, let me show you _who_ you are.”

They left the lab together and crossed the diamond to the hallway directly opposite the one they had entered from. Surveying the interiors of the other rooms through the large windows Ava noted a fully equipped gymnasium, an impressive library and a kitchen that wasn’t too dissimilar to the one in her Washington DC apartment with its stainless steel appliances, white cabinets and granite work surfaces. The corridors to each side of the diamond were dark, printed signage above the entrance on the right read ‘Rooms 1 – 4’ and on the left ‘Rooms 9 – 12’, she and Avalyn were entering the hallway designated for ‘Rooms 5 – 8’ where the lighting was warm and welcoming.

“You have to know that I didn’t give you to Mr Hunter,” Avalyn told her, “You weren’t for sale at any price. Not you, or the others. So he broke in and took you.”

“He stole me!” Given what she had recently learned about Rip she didn’t know why his actions in procuring her had even surprised her, it certainly didn’t surprise her as much as, “Wait, did you say others? I have… sisters?” It was the only term she could think of to describe what her relationship with the other subjects of Project Avalon could be.

“You do,” Avalyn gestured to a door on the right, beside it on the wall was a nameplate, “You met Quinn in the lobby,” she pointed further down the same side of the corridor, “and Saba, my personal assistant.”

Ava found herself slack jawed again, only this morning she had fired her fake parents and now this afternoon she had at least two sisters with who she shared DNA. She could only silently watch as Avalyn crossed to the left side of the hallway and placed her hand against another door and pushed. The old-fashioned door swung inwards giving a glimpse of the room beyond.

“And this is your room,” but it was unnecessary, Ava was already moving towards the open doorway, drawn forwards by an unseen force.

She stopped before she entered the room to ghost her fingers over the nameplate to the left of the doorframe, her fingertips tracing the sharp slants and soft curves, a whisper from her lips, “Ashta?”

“Your name,” Avalyn swallowed, her throat suddenly dry, “The name I gave you.”

The word tugged at something in Ava’s memory, or her fake memory, or something; a fascination with dead and obscure languages during her university years studying world history. Her name, the Sanskrit word for: “number eight.  I guess I’m always going to be a number.”

She wasn’t looking for an explanation from Avalyn, she didn’t need it. For all the talk of her being special and real she had started life as an experiment, and you didn’t name experiments because by their very nature they might not work – it was probably why the corridor that housed one to four was dark, and why she had met number five and number seven but not number six whose bedroom door was right next to her own.

She pushed those thoughts aside and steeling herself Ava stepped into Ashta’s room, determined to find out who she had been and if that was part of who she was now.

The space had the feel of a university dorm room, albeit one that was inhabited by a compulsive neat freak. The furniture was sparse; a bed stood against one wall beneath a picture window that was currently displaying a beach with perfect white sand and deep turquoise water; on the opposite wall a writing desk, a chair and a small bookcase; an open hanging space for clothing and a small storage cabinet that doubled as a bedside table. But like everywhere else in the facility it was designed and decorated with taste and quality.

She stood in the centre of the room, taking in the little details and personal touches, items that stood out from the otherwise Spartan nature. The comforter on the bed with flashes of bronze and silver, the feather quill and ink well on the corner of the desk, the candles arranged just so on the top of the bookcase. Everything seemed strange, but the more she looked the more everything seemed familiar, stirring up memories of… of something…

“I know this place,” Ava breathed out, “not the room itself… but the things…” Her brow furrowed as she tried desperately to latch onto one of the memories clamouring for her attention.

She crossed to the wooden writing desk and placed her palms upon the worn surface, “This desk was in my dorm room at Berkeley,” she pushed aside a history book about The Golden Age of France, opened on a page speculating that the Queen of France had taken a female lover to her bed just hours before consummating her marriage to King Louis XIII. Beneath the book was a deep scar in the wood, she remembered how she would drag the index finger of her right hand along the groove to help her focus when writing papers for class.

The bookcase beside the desk had also resided in her student accommodations. The top shelf held a small collection of reference books about serial killers including Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Aileen Wuornos, and one for a Peter Lewis who wouldn’t be active until two years into the future of what Ava considered her present. The next shelf down stored classic science fiction novels, Ava noted an obvious gap between Cyril Hume’s _Forbidden Planet_ and Dean Ing’s _Quantrill_ series that would perfectly fit her copy of _Brave New World_ by Aldous Huxley. It wasn’t just the story she had been connected to, her connection was with the actual book itself, the one that she had refrained from throwing away.

“You must have been reading it when he took you.” Avalyn surmised. It was the first thing she had said for several minutes, having only just entered the room herself.

So caught up in finding a physical link between the past that she recalled and the past that she didn’t remember she had forgotten the presence of the other woman. She turned from her crouching position by the bookcase and watched Avalyn cross the room and sit on the bed. She was about to ask why her abductor would have allowed her to take a personal item with her when her gaze alighted on the cabinet by the side of the bed, or more accurately on the combination padlock that secured it. She had a thought, a crazy thought, but decided to act on it anyway.

Moving across the room she took the padlock in her hand and spun the dial to clear it; 34-26-35, her high school locker combination, and just like that the lock sprung open.

“How did you know how to do that?” It was the first time during the tour that Avalyn was the one slack jawed.

“I just did.” Reaching inside the cabinet Ava examined the objects within; a neatly folded pile of combat fatigues, lightweight body armour and helmet all similar to that worn by the military clones but with one difference, these were dark grey instead of black. There was one other item in the locker, Ava withdrew it and held it up for Avalyn to see, “Is this a paintball gun?”

“Yes, we use non-lethal weaponry for training purposes.” The light chuckle that followed seemed out of place while discussing warfare, “Actually, there’s a funny story that goes with that.” Avalyn took a pause to gather her thoughts, to make sure she had her facts right, “You’d been out of the tank for maybe three years. Developmentally you were a teenager and I had you join the military units for combat training…”

Ava could guess the rest, “And I used one of them as a human shield.”

“Yes! Do you remember?” Avalyn tried to keep the unease from her voice, she was only partially successful but it didn’t matter as Ava was still examining the paintball rifle in her hands to notice.

“No,” but she did remember, sort of, just not the way it really was, “when I was fifteen I celebrated my birthday by going paintballing with my friends, and that’s exactly what I did.”

Ava tossed the weapon onto the bed, “Rip didn’t erase my memory. He modified it to fit the scenario he needed,” she closed her eyes, shaking her head as she once again felt the anger of being lied to by her former mentor, “He stole my past.”

“He stole my future.” Avalyn’s voice was hard, devoid of the warmth it had held previously. She had moved to stand behind her perfect creation. She almost regretted what she was about to do, “And I want it back.

The needle in her neck was fast, but the sedative in her blood was even faster. Ava dropped to her knees before sprawling gracelessly across the floor. Two pairs of identical black military issue boots were the last thing she saw before everything went black.

~

Most people were unsure how Zari could concentrate on her work when she had thrash metal roaring in her ears at the volume she insisted on, but something in the screaming guitars and frenetic drums helped to bring the data on her screen into sharp focus. She watched as her decryption algorithms continued to chip away at the security protocols that surrounded Rip Hunter’s private directory, which had itself been hidden in several sub-directories of the Time Bureau’s mainframe. Rip was good, Zari was better. She would crack the files, eventually. She reached for another donut, only to find that the plate was empty, she could have sworn there was one left a minute ago.

Pushing her headphones down around her neck, she spun on her stool to confront the only other person in the room. “Hey! Did you take my last donut?” Though the answer should have been an obvious ‘no’ given the fact that the only other occupant of the room was Ray Palmer, who believed all sugary treats were the work of evil forces.

Her outburst, the first sound she had made since her communication with Sara over an hour ago, startled Ray and he fumbled the soldering iron in his hands. He made a grab for it, caught the wrong end, howled in pain at his singed fingers, and dropped it anyway. Bending down to retrieve the instrument he knocked the edge of what he was working on and it fell from the workbench to the floor.

Taking pity on her poor colleague Zari slipped from her seat and scooped up whatever it was that Ray had been busily working on all morning. She held it up so she could examine what appeared to be the torso piece a combat suit; the black leather was reinforced by Kevlar plates but remained lightweight and flexible. She also took note of the size and shape; it was definitely intended to be worn by a woman. Placing the vest back on the surface of the work bench Zari folded her arms across her chest and waited for Ray to get uncomfortable enough to explain himself, it didn’t take long.

Ray inspected the stitching closely to make sure it hadn’t come loose, made sure the leather hadn’t be scuffed in the fall, but when he ran out of things to use as distractions he confessed, “I’m making a suit for Ava to wear when she is on missions with us; her Time Bureau uniform isn’t exactly conducive to the type of situations we often find ourselves in.”

Zari wasn’t sure what she had expected to receive as an answer, but that certainly wasn’t it and it just posed more questions. “Two things: First, how did you even get Ava’s measurements?”

“I furnished Dr Palmer with that information,” Gideon chimed in. “I have had Director Sharpe’s measurements on file since the mission to New Valhalla. I retained the data in the certainty that at some point Director Sharpe would require a fresh change of clothes when she and Captain Lance inevitably bumped…”

“Thank you Gideon.” Zari cut in before the AI could finish painting that particular word picture. She returned her attention to Ray, “Second, I didn’t think you liked the ‘Mean Time Bureau Lady’.”

“I didn’t,” he could still remember the very hard, very cold and impossibly clean floor of the Time Bureau lobby from when he had met it up close and personal, courtesy of a stunning takedown by Agent Sharpe. “But going to 2213 and getting the chance to punch a whole bunch of people that look like her really gave me a sense of closure.” He realised how that had sounded, “They were punching me too, I didn’t just randomly…”

Zari placed a hand on his shoulder, “I never thought you did.”

He relaxed under her touch. “She makes Sara happy.”

“Happy Captain, happy ship.” Zari responded instinctively.

Ray looked up at her in surprise, “That’s what I say.”

“I know.” So perhaps Gideon hadn’t fabricated absolutely everything in the time loop simulation.

They were quiet and Ray turned his attention back to the suit in front of him. “When Ava found out who she was and where she came from it broke her, just like all of us have been at one time or another. I just want her to feel like she’s part of our family.”

“Ray Palmer, you…” Zari didn’t get to complete her thought on what Ray was when she was cut off by the beeping of her workstation.

“What’s that?” Ray asked, leaning around Zari to find out where the noise was coming from.

Zari turned to see the words ’Access Granted’ flashing across the screen, “I’ve broken the encryption on Rip’s private files.”

She slid back onto her stool as Ray scooted his own seat closer and together they watched as the desktop populated around a dozen folders. Clearly never expecting anyone but himself to gain access the file names are pretty straightforward: The Time Masters, Vandal Savage, Legion of Doom, Spear of Destiny, The JSA, Mallus, The Legends…

Ray pointed at the screen, “Open the one about us.”

Zari smacked his hand away, not just because she didn’t want fingerprints on her screen but because, “No. I promised Ava that I would only look at the files that pertained to her.” She could feel Ray studying her, trying to understand why she was playing by the rules she had been given, “You’re not the only one who wants Ava in the family.”

He threw an arm around her shoulders in that big brother way that he did so easily, “Ahhh, Zari Tomaz…”

She shrugged his arm away, “Shut up!” She’d indulged in enough deep and meaningful stuff for one day.

“Okay, open the one that says AVA.” Ray conceded and endeavoured to be as well behaved as Zari on this occasion.

“Ya think!” Her sarcasm returned and Zari felt her equilibrium return with it.

Opening the file revealed a detailed chronology of the twelve clones that Rip had procured in his search to produce the most exceptional agent that he could. Each entry catalogued a commencement and expiration date, listed a cause of death and a comprehensive service record – many of which were quite short. Zari counted at least three incidents of the clone taking a bullet for a fellow agent, one death by explosion while moving a bomb from a civilian area, an execution by a warlord displaced in time, and: “How does someone get vaporised?” She read on a little further, “Nevermind, forget I asked.”

Finally she arrived at entry number twelve, their Ava. It was obvious from the length of the service record that she had outlived and outstripped the other clones with ease. But that wasn’t the only difference between number twelve and one through eleven. “Our Ava isn’t one of the AVA’s, she from something called Project Avalon.”

“Ooh there’s a link,” Ray pointed, only to have his hand smacked away again.

“I see it,” she scolded him as she clicked on the link and another file opened.

They read in silence, gathering the gist of what Project Avalon entailed and what it was to be used for.

“So, this Doctor Morgan was using the AVA income to finance an off the books operation,” she scanned the next few lines, “researching advanced cloning technologies… and the practical application of memory grafting… oh there’s some stuff here about Doctor Morgan too… oh no!”

Ray had seen what Zari had seen, “Call Sara. Call Sara NOW!”

~

In a desperate attempt at distraction Sara had thrown herself down on one of the two leather couches in the conference area of Avalyn’s office and put her booted feet up on the coffee table. She ignored the startled gasp from Saba for her lack of respect and considered her choices of reading material on the table before her. It was no surprise to Sara that all the magazines, actual paper magazines, contained articles about the one and only Doctor Avalyn Morgan. She passed over the issues of _Forbes_ and _The New Scientist_ in favour of _Girls Who Do Girls_ , it might be interesting to see what type of woman the good doctor was interested in.

It appeared that despite being linked to a string of gorgeous, talented and intelligent ladies the woman who was successful in all aspects of her life had yet to find love, citing ‘until I’m the woman I need to be I have nothing to offer a potential suitor’. Most recently she had been casually dating a former Olympian who now owned a franchise of fitness centres across the globe. There was a photograph of the couple attending some event or other; the woman had blonde hair, blue eyes and freckles dusted her pale skin. Well now she knew what type of woman Avalyn found attractive.

She tossed the magazine carelessly back onto the coffee table when a soft beep sounded in her ear.

“Sara are you there?” Zari’s voice was urgent, concerned.

“Where else would I be?” Sara hauled herself off the couch and returned to the window to gain some semblance of privacy. “What have you found out?”

“Doctor Morgan has something called Molineux Syndrome.” Zari began.

There was something familiar about the term, “I’ve seen that name somewhere…” Thankfully her eyes fell to the photograph on the credenza, the one of Avalyn standing at the sight of the new hospital wing that specialised in the syndrome. “What is it?”

“Doctor Henry Molineux diagnosed the first case in 2078. It’s a genetically inherited motor neuron disease.”

“Like ALS?” Sara guessed, thinking about the cane Avalyn used to get around.

“They both follow similar patterns, but after a diagnosis the life expectancy of someone with ALS is around 3-5 years, for someone with Molineux it’s much, much longer.” Zari searched for a simple way to explain the difference between the two diseases, “The neurons die off and stop sending signals to the voluntary muscles in the body, first the limbs and eventually the respiration system. But in the case of Molineux there’s an extended period of time where the neurons cease dying, usually at this point the mind is still sharp but the body has failed.”

“For someone like Avalyn Morgan that’s not option.” Everything about Avalyn’s personality screamed that she would never allow herself to be beaten, especially by her own body. “ I guess that’s why she donated enough money to the local hospital to have a whole wing named after her.”

“Not as much money as she’s diverted to something called Project Avalon.” Zari took a breath and prepared to tell Sara the awful truth that she had uncovered, “Doctor Morgan has been developing the perfect clone; one free of the Molineux gene and capable of accepting a memory graft.”

“I have to get to Ava,” Sara turned with every intention of getting through the door that she had watched her lover disappear through. Instead she found herself staring down the barrel of a gun.

~


End file.
